Journal article
Amount and intensity of daily total physical activity, step count and risk of incident cancer in the UK Biobank
- Abstract:
- Objectives: To investigate associations between daily physical activity, activity intensity and step counts with incident cancer risk. Methods: Prospective analysis of UK Biobank participants who wore wrist-based accelerometers for 7 days, followed for cancer incidence (mean follow-up 5.8 years, SD 1.3). Time-series machine-learning models derived total physical activity, sedentary behaviour (SB), light-intensity physical activity (LIPA), moderate-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) and step counts. The outcome was a composite of 13 cancers previously associated with low physical activity in questionnaire-based studies. Cox proportional hazard models estimated HRs and 95% CIs, adjusted for demographic, health and lifestyle factors. We also explored associations of LIPA, MVPA and SB with cancer risk. Results: Among 85 394 participants (median age 63 (IQR 56–68)), 2633 were diagnosed with cancer during follow-up. Compared with individuals in the lowest quintile of total physical activity (<21.6 milligravity units), those in the highest (34.3+) had a 26% lower cancer risk (HR=0.74 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.84)). After mutual adjustment, LIPA (HR=0.94 (95% CI 0.90 to 0.98)) and MVPA (HR=0.87 (95% CI 0.79 to 0.94)) were associated with lower risk, but SB was not. Similar associations were observed for substituting 1 hour/day of SB with LIPA or MVPA. Daily step counts were inversely associated with cancer, with the dose-response beginning to plateau at around 9 000 steps/day (HR=0.89 (95% CI 0.83 to 0.96) 7000 vs 5000 steps; HR=0.84 (95% CI 0.76 to 0.93) 9000 vs 5000 steps). There was no significant association between stepping intensity (peak 30-minute cadence) and cancer after adjusting for step count. Conclusion: Total physical activity, LIPA, MVPA and step counts were inversely associated with incident cancer.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 265.8KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1136/bjsports-2024-109360
Authors
+ Health Data Research UK
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- Funder identifier:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100023699
- Publisher:
- BMJ Publishing Group
- Journal:
- British Journal of Sports Medicine More from this journal
- Article number:
- bjsports-2024-109360
- Publication date:
- 2025-03-26
- Acceptance date:
- 2025-02-24
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1473-0480
- ISSN:
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0306-3674
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
-
2101867
- Local pid:
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pubs:2101867
- Source identifiers:
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2878402
- Deposit date:
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2025-04-22
- ARK identifier:
This ORA record was generated from metadata provided by an external service. It has not been edited by the ORA Team.
Terms of use
- Copyright date:
- 2025
- Notes:
- This is the accepted manuscript version of the article. The final version is available online from BMJ Publishing Group at https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2024-109360
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